In April 1996 the BBC World channel, which operated in Arabic, was shut down. This channel was partly owned by Saudi-Arabia. Many of the journalists from this station started working with Al Jazeera. The channel started broadcasting at the End of 1996.[1]

For example, on January 27, 1999 Al Jazeera had critics of the government of Algeria on their live programEl-Itidjah el-Mouakass (Arabic for The Opposite Direction). To stop people from watching this program in Algeria, the government of Algeria cut the electricity in large parts of the country.[2][3][4] At that time many people outside the Middle East did not know about Al Jazeera. Those people who knew it said generally good things about Al Jazeera.[5] Because of good reporting from the Lebanese Civil War in 2000-2001 Al Jazeera got even more viewers. However it only became know worldwide after it broadcast statements from al-Qaedaleaders in 2001.